Berlusconi looked but didn't touch, says witness

ROME: Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi never touched any of the young girls he used to entertain at his villa outside Milan, a regular guest of his parties told an Italian court on Monday.

Mr Berlusconi, 76, is facing charges of paying for under-age sex and abuse of power. The question of whether he had sex with a Moroccan-born dancer who was 17 when she was his guest is central to the case.

"There were no transgressions and no touching," Emilio Fede, a former anchorman from one of Mr Berlusconi's TV channels, was quoted as saying by the website of the Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"Once, a bra flew off a girl who was dancing. Berlusconi told his waiters to give her something to cover herself with," he said in a testimony before a court in Milan.

The journalist, speaking as a witness for the defence, also told judges that he found the dancer "ugly and smelly," suggesting that it was unlikely that Mr Berlusconi would have wanted to sleep with her.

Karima el-Mahroug, now 20, is due to appear as another defence witness on December 10.

In media interviews, she has said that Mr Berlusconi paid her, but denied having had sex with him. However, she claimed that to have attended parties at his villa which featured a sex game called the "bunga bunga."

But prosecutors, who have interrogated dozens of girls who attended the bunga bunga parties, claim to have collected evidence suggesting that Ms Mahroug had sex with Mr Berlusconi during at least 12 visits to his villa from February to May 2010.

Mr Fede is a defendant in a separate trial for abetting prostitution.

He is accused, along with two other aides of the former prime minister, of recruiting girls for his parties.

On Monday, Mr Fede said he first saw Ms Mahroug at a beauty pageant in Sicily in 2009, and met her again at Mr Berlusconi's house in February 2010. He also said he "never knew" that she was under age.

As well as paying for sex with a minor, Mr Berlusconi is also accused of having pressured police to release Ms Mahroug after she had been held on suspicion of theft, claiming she was a niece of the then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Mr Berlusconi denies all charges. A first instance verdict is expected early next year; in case of a conviction, the former prime minister could appeal.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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